One of the most common phone calls we get are from people whose kids have been injured in a daycare. As a parent myself, I get why these callers are so upset. You trust your kids to be taken care of and something bad happens to them. For whatever reason, it seems like many of these daycare facilities don’t call right away to tell you about the accident. They are probably hoping that it will just be a temporary problem that you’ll never find out about.
These are challenging cases for a couple of reasons. First, most of the independent witnesses are little kids. So your child can’t give a great account of what actually happened and neither can any of the other kids in the room. You might have the smartest three year old in the world, but no insurance company or jury is going to buy their story. So unless there is a very honest worker at the daycare, it’s hard to prove what happened.
The second obstacle is that most of the injuries aren’t due to negligence. The kids can’t be expected to be bottled up all day and not moving. So if your child is running from one room to another and falls, well, that’s what happens to little kids. If they break their arm, that would be awful, but the chances of proving negligence would be slim. And if you can’t prove negligence then you don’t have a case.
A recent call from a Chicago woman whose son was hurt in daycare was the exception to the rule. The child was on a merry go round type device without any adult supervision. Another child was able to spin it so fast that her child fell off. At least that’s what the daycare center told her. The child is only one, so there’s no way he should have been on there in the first place. My guess is that another child didn’t actually do the spinning because those machines are somewhat heavy. But even if the daycare worker’s story is true, it sounds to me like they are at fault for being careless and should be held responsible for any injuries.
Personally, I’m surprised that there isn’t a law that requires cameras to capture what is happening in a daycare all day. I know that the owners wouldn’t want them, but it’s certainly best for the kids on so many levels.
Please don’t read this post as us saying these cases can’t be won. Clearly they can be. The key point that you should take away is that if you want a lawyer to be able to help you in filing a lawsuit for your child, you need actual evidence because without it you don’t have much of a chance. In some cases, a firm will send out investigators to interview employees and that can ultimately be how you prove your case.
If you need our help, you can contact us online or by calling us at 312-346-5320 or 800-517-1614. It’s all free and confidential.